Friday, June 5, 2015

MPNs made news at ASCO this year

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has its big meeting each year in Chicago in early June. In the past solid tumor cancers have received the most attention, saving blood cancer announcements for the American Society of Hematology meeting where the focus is more narrow. This year, however, was different, with big news coming from Baxter/CTIBiopharma on their Pacritinib data. Dr. Ruben Mesa presented at a press conference on progress for this drug, which is intended for people with myelofibrosis who have low platelet counts.

Patient Power was also on the scene and filmed a roundtable discussion with Dr. Mesa, Dr. Allison Moliterno, Dr. Naveen Pemmaraju and PV to MF patient Heidi. They discussed the trends in therapy for MPNs, especially in the wake of the 10 year anniversary of the discovery of the JAK2 mutation upon which much work developing drugs has been focused. Also mentioned was a presentation on a 5 year follow-up of people who had underwent allogenic stem cell transplants for myelofibrosis. Heidi also discussed how she as a patient has sought out information, choosing to go both to her doctor as well as the online forums. According to Heidi, "patients should do their own research from multiple reputable sources". Click here for the "All About Myelofibrosis" infographic.